


Last Resort

by Huntress79



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, F/M, Gen, Past Matt Murdock/Natasha Romanov, Post-Avengers (2012), Sassy Jarvis, at least the beginning of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: Natasha is in a bind: SHIELD asks her to investigate the sudden appearance of Chitauri weapons in Hell’s Kitchen, but none of her usual partners are available. Will she swallow her pride and contact her ex-boyfriend Matt Murdock?
Relationships: Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Natasha Romanov, Matt Murdock & Natasha Romanov, Matt Murdock/Natasha Romanov (past)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: Rare Pairs Exchange 2020





	Last Resort

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Rare Pair Exchange and igrockspock. Set post “The Avengers”, with all six living in the Tower (more or less XD). Canon divergence as Matt and Foggy already have their practice, and Matt’s been around as the Daredevil for quite some time. Oh, and don't get confused when Matt calls Natasha "Natalie" - she introduced herself to him at their first meeting as Natalie Rushman ;) Hope you like it!

*********************

“God damn it!”

Storming out of the conference room, Natasha didn’t care if she scared some of the people in the hallway or not. Her mind was still wrapped around the question if she should put a bullet in Nick Fury’s body or not.

On their own volition, her legs had carried her to the private balcony on the same floor. Making sure she was indeed alone, she took a deep breath and slid down to the floor before leaning back against the wall.

“Miss Romanov?” J.A.R.V.I.S. called out, and once again, Natasha was left marveling at the level of emotion in this particular artificial voice. “I sense your breathing is accelerated. Do you wish me to alert someone?”

“No, J, thanks for the concern, but I’m perfectly fine. I’m just a little bit enraged, you understand?”

“Absolutely, Miss Romanov. If you want, I can keep everyone inside and give you some time to calm down.”

“That would be nice, J. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Miss. I take it has something to do with Director Fury’s presence?”

“Yes. It’s not that I’m not glad about some new work, but the timing is anything but good.”

“If I may add, I saw you in action, Miss Romanov, and I’m more than a bit convinced that you will overcome this small obstacle as well. You’re a fighter, Black Widow.”

For a moment or two, Natasha was speechless. Leave it to an AI to give her the peptalk she desperately needed.

“You know, J, for an AI you’re a damn fine human being.”

“You think so, Miss Romanov?” Natasha gave a nod. “In that case, I’ll make sure Sir will hear your words once he’s back from Asia. He spent a lot of time in ‘fine-tuning’ my codes to the point that I could learn on my own.”

“And J? Don’t ever change the way you are. If you ever think that Tony will do just that, tell me and I’ll put some fear into him, okay?”

“I will remember, though I don’t think this scenario will ever happen. Thank you.”

The AI fell silent after that, and true to his word, he made sure that no one could disturb Natasha for some time.

Feeling just the wind in her hair, and some rays of sunshine on her face, along with the typical sounds of the city below as a backdrop, Natasha finally calmed down slowly. Enough to consider her options.

She could try and solve the case alone. But this option was crushed almost immediately - too many reminders of her time as an assassin, when she was mostly working alone.

Another option: she could ask Fury for a SHIELD team to work with her. Again, not her favorite option, since she might end up with some rookie agents who would fall over their own feet constantly, mostly because they were staring at her instead of doing their job. And Fury hopefully knew better than to give her another “babysitter” job.

Her favorite option, though, fell through, which frustrated her immensly. Clint still wasn’t cleared for duty after Loki’s mind manipulations, Steve was too busy trying to do some catch up with 70 years of history, Tony and Pepper were on a business trip in Asia, Thor was up on Asgard, and Bruce had dropped off the grid right after they saw Thor and Loki off in Central Park. Long story short, the Avengers were, more or less, disbanded once again.

“Oh, come on, what do you want me to do?” Natasha asked no one in particular.

“May I make a suggestion?” J.A.R.V.I.S. suddenly spoke up.

“You’re always listening, aren’t you?”

“Part of the job, so to speak, Miss Romanov,” the AI replied, and Nat couldn’t help but smile at hearing the smug undertone.

“So, what’s your suggestion? I guess since you asked instead of just making it, I’m not gonna like it, right?”

“I’m not sure about that second part, Miss Romanov, but may I remind you that, if I remember correctly, you already know someone in that area?”

Dang it, Natasha thought, this AI knew her better than any real human. But why on Earth did he have to bring up him, of all people?

“He’s probably busy with clients, J.”

“Maybe, but I believe you won’t know until you give him a call, don’t you agree?”

Nat couldn’t help but sigh. Why were the best or only options always the hardest ones?

*********************

Half an hour later, Natasha found herself in Hell’s Kitchen, in front of a building that definitely had seen better times. But while Hell’s Kitchen also had seen its fair share of damage during the battle, this one hadn’t sustained any newer “wounds.”

“You gonna grow some roots down there?”

Even from a distance, Nat could hear the amused undertone in Matt’s voice, and somehow, exactly that made her huff in frustration. Nonetheless, she made her way to the front door of the building, only to shake her head when she saw that said door was left slightly open.

At long last, she reached the floor with Matt’s apartment, and the man in question was already waiting in the doorway.

“You know, I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t give me a call sooner,” he drawled.

“Believe it or not, there was no reason for it,” Nat quipped back, coming up to him.

“Really? And now there is?”

“Yeah, there is, but I have you know that you’re kind of a last resort solution for me.”

“Hm,” Matt replied, “still better than being your last chance.” He stepped aside and made a gesture. “Come in, Natalie.”

*********************

Once inside, Natasha felt like she just did a trip back in time to when she and Matt were, more or less, dating. Truth be told, he was actually dating Natalie Rushman, but Nat still loved the attention she got.

“Want anything to drink?” Matt asked, halfway past her on his way to the kitchen area.

“No, but thank you,” Nat replied, her mind still reeling with both the fact that the apartment barely had changed and that she was here again, after all.

“Please have a seat,” Matt spoke up next to her, and only her lifelong training kept her from jumping upon hearing his voice so close.

Nat dropped down on the once so familiar leather couch, steeling herself for what she was going to do next. For some time, SHIELD had a hunch about Daredevil’s true identity, and if she got Matt to work the case with her, she also might get an answer to this particular question.

“So, what brought you all the way from Stark Tower, Nat?”

“A job.”

“Wow, that’s probably the most enthusiastic answer I heard all week,” Matt joked, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm.

“Yeah, you would be enthusiastic too if you have to resort on the help of your ex-lover, cause any other option falls through the proverbial roof.”

“Ouch, Natalie.” Matt couldn’t quite keep the wince out of his voice. “But rest assured, I’ll help the legendary Black Widow to the best of my abilities.”

Heaving a sigh, Nat finally procured a Stark Tablet from her purse, and called up what they had on file about the case.

“Okay, I take you heard about the weapons those aliens used when they attacked New York recently?”

“Yeah, but only what the news stations said, that it was some kind of energy weapon. Foggy said it looked like something straight out of Star Trek.”

“He’s not completely wrong about that, but other than their phaser, this weapon only has one setting - killing.”

“Uh-oh,” Matt replied, and Nat didn’t need to rely on her more intimate knowledge of the man to see that he already had a hunch where this was going.

“Uh-oh indeed, and while both SHIELD and the Avengers did their best right after the fight and collected most of their weapons, some of the Chitauri guns slipped through the cracks.”

“And now they want you to clean up, right?”

“Yeah, more or less,” Nat answered with a shrug. “I think we both know only too well what a weapon of mass destruction means in the wrong hands.”

“Chaos and mayhem, at least. Plus, a string of bodies left in its wake.”

“Exactly, and that’s why we have to hurry to get them into SHIELD possession.”

Matt seemed to consider something, if the slightly furrowed brows were anything to count for.

“What you’re thinking about, Matt?”

“Have they told you what these SHIELD people are gonna do with the weapons?”

“No, but I assume they are gonna analyze it from every possible angle, and then hopefully, all these guns get destroyed. Why?”

“Then why are they not giving you a full team, or some ex-military guys to get the job done properly?”

“I honestly don’t know why, Matt, but I know that I don’t want to live with this kind of red in my ledger. There’s already enough of it in there.”

Again, Matt seemed to be in thought, and somehow, Nat was thankful for that. First off, she had some moments to collect her own thoughts. And second, she was, to be honest, a bit surprised at how much Matt still seemed to care for her and her wellbeing.

“Okay, where do we start?”

“Here, in Hell’s Kitchen.”

*********************

Though if Natasha somehow had the hope for a quick solution of the case, this hope was crushed by the end of the first day. What they had on info from SHIELD wasn’t much to start with, and despite Matt’s vast neighbourhood network, nobody had seen anything (or didn’t want to speak about it with anyone).

“I hope your usual work is a bit more interesting,” Matt quipped around a bite of the Lo Mein they had ordered.

“It is, though I can’t tell you any details, Matt,” Nat replied.

“Why? Oh, let me guess: it’s all top secret, and if you would talk about it, you would have to kill me afterwards, right?”

“Yeah, something like that. And as I told you today, I already have enough red in my ledger. Enough to last me not just one lifetime.”

“So the stories about the Black Widow are true?” Matt asked, turning serious. “That she’s responsible for the fall of several governments, along with a string of killings?”

“You don’t seem to believe it,” Natasha inquired.

“I just can’t seem to imagine you as a cold-blooded killer, Natalie. Let’s just say I have some comparison in that matter, and the ‘real’ you wouldn’t harm a fly, let alone another human being.”

“But I really did all those things you mentioned, Matt.”

“And? From what I have heard, the KGB did, more or less, brainwash you into their weapon. A very beautiful, sexy one, but a weapon nonetheless.” He took a sip from his beer before continuing. “Whoever broke their hold and brought you here is a true hero in my eyes, so to speak. I hope SHIELD has rewarded him or her for just doing that.”

Natasha couldn’t help but laugh. “They took more like the opposite direction, but truth be told, I think it would have confused him more if they had, as you called it, rewarded him for bringing me in instead of following his true orders.”

For some moments, silence reigned over the apartment, both of them finishing their take-out portion, along with their respective drinks.

“So,” Matt began after disposing the remnants of their late dinner in the kitchen, “what do you say about starting anew tomorrow, with a fresh and rested mind?”

“Absolutely my plan, Matt,” Nat replied. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to crash here.”

“You know I never say no to having a beautiful woman in my apartment,” Matt gave back with a smile.

“Yeah, but usually she ends up in your bed, not on the couch.”

“Only means that I’m apparently losing my touch.”

“Or that somewhere deep down,” Natasha responded, “there’s a real gentleman hidden under all those Hell’s Kitchen layers.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm. You got some spare pillows and blankets somewhere?”

“Sure, just stay here, I’ll get them for you,” Matt gave back, already turning towards his bedroom to grab the items in question. Watching him leave, Natasha had to shake her head. Talk about a crazy turn of events, and that was only their first day working that case together.

“Here you go,” Matt told her while handing two pillows and a blanket over. “I hope you can find some rest on the couch, as you know…”

“...there’s a neon sign outside that keeps even you awake, I know,” Natasha finished his sentence.

“The things you remember,” Matt said with a smile before getting closer to her. “Promise you won’t kill me in my sleep for what I’m about to do now?”

“How many times…?” Nat began, only to stop when she felt Matt’s hands on her chin. Holding her breath, she waited for what would come next.

And that was both his hands traveling up her face, as if he was memorizing it all over again, before returning to her cheeks, holding it, and pressing a light kiss to her forehead.

“Sleep tight, Natalie. We’re gonna find those weapons, don’t worry.”

And somehow, Natasha believed him.

*********************

The End

*********************


End file.
